Training guides

Practical notes on the mistakes that decide games, and how to drill one of them at a time.

• How to stop hanging pieces

  A practical check that catches loose pieces before you move, and a short way to train it.

• How to train chess forks

  How to spot a knight or queen fork in a few seconds, and how many puzzles to do before it sticks.

• How to build a tactics deck from your games

  Turn the misses in your own games into a deck you can repeat, without saving every position you see.

• A blunder check you can use every move

  Three questions that take a few seconds and catch the moves that lose material.

• How to see knight moves faster

  A short drill for knight jumps so forks and forks-against-you stop being a surprise.

• What to drill after a loss

  How to pick one drill and a rep count from the game you just lost, instead of reviewing everything.